How to Make an Archery Target

A good quality archery target is an indispensable thing for archers to hone their shooting skill. It must last a longtime. It should not block your arrow either too fast or too slow. If it stops an arrow using high impact stress fatigue, the arrow head may deformed rendering the arrow useless. On the other hand, if the if the target stops the arrow slowly, the arrow may penetrate up to the fletching. Then pulling the arrow from the target is another hassle. 

A good archery target should also need to be large enough so that it can block many off target arrows, Such large targets are quite essential for beginners or intermediate level archers. Expert archers, however, do not require such a large target. They feel comfortable practicing with a small target. 

There are many commercially available archery targets out there. Purchasing one commercially manufactured arrow target is expensive. However, they come with much better quality than a home made product. Especially those targets that you can practice with broadheads on. 

Another flip side of store bought arrow targets are if you use the target too often, you may need to replace it with a new one. And that will of course increase your cost.

To avoid the hassle of commercial products, you can make your own target . There are many ways to make an archery target at home. Making one target at home will save your hard earned money.

Target Design 

Quickly before we get into the specific target designs there are a few fundamentals of target design that you should understand.

Before starting to make an archery target, you need to understand the basic structure of an archery target. The structure is quite simple though. 

An archery target primarily consists of two items- frame and backstop. In archery world, these two items are the fundamental components of any target whether it is an expensive target or a DIY homemade model.

The frame part makes the shape of the target and provides balance to it. Wood is the top most popular choice to make  an archery target. However, you will also see other materials in a solid archery target frame like PVC pipe, metal, or cardboard.

A backstop is that part of the target that catches the arrow you shot. Without a backstop, you will need to hunt down your arrow more than you are actually shooting. 

Backstops are soft sponge-like material that spread the impact of the arrow throughout the backstop and thus  lessen the shock of the projectile.The common materials that are often used as backstops are hay, straw, cardboard, cloth, carpet, plastic, and foam.

Backstop materials are easily exchangeable. This means you can replace one material with another. 

Finding cardboard is pretty easy. A good place for collecting cardboard free is convenient or grocery stores. The owners of these stores unbox a bunch of items from cardboard boxes, place those items in the shelf and discard those boxes. You can easily grab those boxes free.

Another ideal place to collect these boxes is a family who recently changed its house. During shifting of his home, he used many cardboard boxes and threw out those boxes.Look around your neighborhood. You will certainly get one such family. 

Materials you need to collect to make an archery target 

• Cardboard box
• Extra cardboard 

Tape Glue

The target we are going to make requires cardboard to use as a frame of the target. After picking a cardbox, we will stuff inside of the box with more cardboards. The cardboard will serve both backstop and frame of this archery target. 

Choose a box that has equal length and height but the width is not more than two feet.It is because more the width of the box, the more material you will need to stuff inside of the box. 

The ideal box will be a slim box but will be robust enough to endure the impact of the arrow without toppling after each hit.

Like cardboxes, hay bales are another cheap material to make an archery target.These materials are excellent to make a target that can withstands the impact of low poundage bows. Purchase two firm hay bales and heap them on top of each other.Compress them together with a pair of tie down straps and  wrap it with a cloth.

Another method of making an archery target is compressing cardboard bales. Collect these cardboard bales from your local supermarket. It is likely that you can collect these materials free from a supermarket. However, sometimes you may need to spend a little amount of money to buy recyclable cardboard materials. 

Another far more easier option is joining your local archery club. As a member, you will be able to join their well set up practice range and hone your aiming target practice there.